


Body Heat

by NowThatWereDone



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes - Freeform, Canon(ish), Cold, F/M, Frost Bite, Pre-Relationship, Snow, Unresolved Emotional Tension, body heat, on a quest for Bucky, post-AoU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 16:14:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5632972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NowThatWereDone/pseuds/NowThatWereDone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In  which a mission goes wrong, Nat and Steve are cold, and they try to figure out how to keep warm./ Or, a fic request from tumblr that I'm transporting here for kicks and giggles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Body Heat

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all.   
> This had so many typos. WITHIN THE FIRST FEW SENTENCES TOO. I changed the ones I saw, but if there's anymore I sincerely apologize I originally wrote it quickly. But yeah, this is from tumblr so... yes. yeah. Enjoy, babes.

It was supposed to be easy.

That’s the one thought that kept running through Natasha’s mind as she and a certain Captain America rushed frantically through the snow. Though, the word “rush” implies that the two were actually able to maneuver through the knee deep slush with little difficulty. While Steve moved more or less unimpeded, Natasha’s smaller stature had her struggling. _Perfect._

It was just the piss-poor ending Natasha needed for a mission she hadn’t even wanted to go on.

Fury had been in Natasha’s apartment (or at least the place she had officially put in the SHIELD database, which was more of a storage space than an actual residence for actual living), waiting as eerily as he did. Natasha regarded him as professionally as usual, though her shoulders weren’t quite as rigid as they could’ve been.

“What do you need?” Natasha asked, knowing better than to assume Fury had been there to visit her. The older man smiled.

“Nice to see you, too, Romanoff.” Natasha didn’t say anything, only leaned against the nearest wall with her arms crossed over her shoulders. “Right. You never were good at small talk.” Not unless it was to get her from point A to point B. “I’ve got a tip on the Winter Soldier,” Fury said, holding out a manila folder as he approached her, “in Greenland.” Natasha blinked.

“You know where Bucky is?”

“I said I had a tip. You know as well as I do how those can go.” She did. Natasha’s eyes scanned the documents Fury provided. Narrowed.

“Shouldn’t you be giving this to Rogers?” The name sounded a little weird on her tongue. She’d gotten a little used to calling him ‘Steve’, used to him calling her ‘Nat’. And then the hellicarrier fell into the Potomac and Natasha went underground and Ultron tried dropping a city out of the sky. And, um, Bruce. Rogers and Romanoff returned.

“I did, earlier today.” No. _No_. Natasha looked at Fury, knowing she looked like an incensed teenager but not entirely caring.

“You want me to go on this with _him_?”

“Since when were you and the Captain on bad terms?” Fury asked, and Natasha really wanted to smack the grin off of his face. He knew exactly what he was doing; nothing ever flew passed that old man for long. “It’s a simple recon mission. You go in, see if the tip is as good as they claim, and if not, come back here and run your new little Avengers team.”

“You make it sound so simple,” Natasha deadpanned, already envisioning the awkward moments that would arise between her and Steve (a number of them had already came up when they’d tried briefing the new team, both of them accidentally interrupting the other or purposely avoiding eye contact or hesitating too long when their arms accidentally brushed as they passed out mission dossiers…).

“It will be simple,” Fury had said.

That was forty seven hours ago. That was before Steve and Natasha had been forced to run for their lives as some undercover Hydra agents hurried after them. Apparently the tip had been very good; Hydra wanted to investigate too because they really missed their number one asset.

The two former-SHIELD agents plowed on through the snow, dipping and dodging the bullets that tore past them. One probably hit Natasha, but the bitter cold kept her from feeling it. Her whole body was going numb.

“Cap, we gotta shake them off,” Nat cried over the roaring wind. Steve glanced over his shoulder. The two snow mobiles were still on their tail and gaining. Things didn’t look good.

“Any ideas as to how?” Steve asked, his words nearly stolen entirely by the wind.

“Fighting’s probably the only way.” Not that the two could maximize their superior agility and strength in such adverse conditions. Still, they tried. Succeeded even, through the force of teamwork, ingenuity, and the sheer desire to get the hell out of the cold.

This was a task a lot easier said than done as the whole village was crawling with Hydra agents. It soon became apparent that Steve and Natasha were going to have to go into hiding if they wanted to survive the night, and hide they did, in a rundown church. Which meant no heater, no blankets… Just mold covered pews and a carving of Jesus hanging from the cross, his face nearly washed away by rain water.

“How are you holding up?” Natasha tore her eyes away from the religious piece to look at Steve, who sat on the nearest pew, rubbing his massive arms together. He was shivering, but his face wasn’t as red as it might’ve been had he not been on the serum. Those Super Soldier genes must’ve kept his body temperature at a pretty toasty temperature. _Lucky bastard._

“I’m fine.” She was lying of course. Natasha was Russian, sure, but that didn’t mean she was good with the cold. Her thermal suit hadn’t been meant for such long exposure, and the bullet holes that riddled the edges of it did not help keep the heat in. The redhead bit her lip to keep from shivering and turned her back on Steve. “How long until Falcon can send up some help?”

“I’ll know the answer to that as soon as the comms start working again.” Great. Natasha crossed her arms. Alone with Steve Rogers. At one point in her life, the idea hadn’t been so adverse to her. Now… Well. It wasn’t that she hated him. Actually, the opposite held more weight. It was just… things were off between them. Natasha didn’t know how to fix it, nor did she knew how to even bring up the fact that she missed him.

That was a weakness. She’d already compromised enough with the whole Banner incident.

“You’re cold.” Natasha didn’t respond to Steve’s comment. “Romanoff? _Romanoff_?” Footsteps drew closer to her. “Natasha.” Steve’s voice was unbearably close, and the steadiness of his hand clasping the circumference of her forearm revealed how much Natasha was shaking. Glaring back at him, Natasha noticed that, by this point, Steve’s nose was starting to turn red.

“You’re cold, too,” she pointed out before shaking him off. “We should build a fire.”

“A fire? Wouldn’t that tip off our location?” Natasha kept her back to him as she strode across the sanctuary, trying to ignore how her toes felt like little ice cubes in her boots. “That was a sarcastic suggestion, wasn’t it?” It had been more of a subject changer, but there was a little causticity in her words. “Natasha…”

“Steve, all this talking is just wearing down your energy, energy you need to stay warm,” Natasha snapped. Her anger was hot in her chest, but contrasted with the cold of her cheeks. Her skin was so cold, it felt raw, like someone had ran dry ice over her body. She thought of Steve’s arms again. Shut her eyes. “Just huddle in a corner. Be compact. Use your body heat to warm yourself up.”

“Alright…” She could imagine the way Steve was looking at her, with those big baby blues shimmering with disappointment. Ugh. “Are you sure you’re okay, Natasha?” Why did he have to sound so worried about her? Natasha slid down into a corner, leveling Steve with her eyes as coldly as she could.

“Yep,” Natasha responded bluntly.

Moments passed. Steve still stood there watching her; Natasha’s head was down on her knees in an attempt to form a sort of pocket of hot air between her knees and arms and face, but she could still feel Steve’s eyes on her. Again; _ugh_. Natasha didn’t rise to the bait, though, at least, not until she heard shoes scuffing against the floor, coming closer and closer, closer and—

“What the hell, Rogers,” Natasha snapped as she felt his large arms encircling her.

“You’re body isn’t as resilient as mine,” Steve told her matter-of-factly. “You’re going to freeze to death.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

“Am _not_.” Steve’s body rocked a bit. “Are you laughing at me, Rogers?”

“No,” Steve said. Still laughing. “I’m just amused is all. This is probably the longest we’ve talked in a while.”

“And whose fault was that?” Natasha’s statement was supposed to sound jagged and harsh, but a bout of shivers had danced through her body, making her voice tremble in a very unimpressive way. Steve held her closer and Natasha’s heart pounded against her sternum.

“I’m pretty sure you were the one who iced me out, Nat.” Nat. Was it the cold that was loosening Steve up? Or maybe he thought Natasha was going to succumb to the elements and wanted to tell her what he really thought. Either way, it had Natasha’s head leaning a little more into Steve. But just a little.

“Yeah, well, I’m not at being friends with people.”

“I think Clint would beg to differ.”

“Yeah, well, you’re not Clint.” A heavy silence passed between the two. And then:

“…You know this would be more effective if we took some of our clothes off.” Natasha glared so hard Steve leaned away in fear. “I’m being dead serious, Natasha. That wasn’t a come on.” She wasn’t sure if that made her feel any better or not. “You know how body heat works.”

“I do.” She wriggled her toes. The poor little piggies were probably black by that point. “I’m not really looking forward to stripping out of this uniform, though. Feel like my skin would rip off.”

“Fair enough. Though, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d appreciate it if you wrapped your arms around me. I’m, uh, a little colder than I look.” Truth be told, the temperature was seeming to take its toll on Steve as well. Relenting, Natasha moved her arms around Steve’s midsection. That warmed her chest some, though that had little to do with science and body heat and more to do with the fact that Steve Rogers was a very dangerous weakness of hers.

They sat there, entangled in one another for God knows how long. Natasha would find herself blacking out at times, and sometimes she would see Steve’s eyes closing. Being so closed to him relaxed her, had her remembering when he’d saved her life, when he’d admitted that he trusted her.

She wanted that relationship back.

She wanted Steve back, in any way possible.

“…If we make it back alive, do you want to grab some hot chocolate?” Natasha found herself asking. Steve’s chin burrowed into her fiery locks.

“Don’t you have some post-mission ritual thing? Where you don’t like talking to anyone?”

“Yeah,,, but I figure we’re both cold and need to warm up. You’ve never seen my apartment before, anyway.”

“Please. Not even Clint has set foot in your real apartment.” Natasha felt the familiar smile touch her lips, the one she wore when she and Steve used to be she-and-Steve, a well-oiled machine, friends, confidants, maybe even more…

“Well,” Nat sighed, snuggling her head against Captain America’s chest, “you’re not Clint.” He was something different.


End file.
